WSB-TV News Atlanta
Appeal Planned in Morehouse Beating Case
June 12, 2003
ATLANTA -- The attorney for a 19-year-old former Morehouse
College student convicted in the baseball bat beating of another student says he
will appeal the 10-year sentence.
A jury on Wednesday found Aaron Price guilty of aggravated
assault and aggravated battery, but he was not found guilty of the state's new
anti-hate crime law.
The judge said he was surprised there even was a trial because
Price had planned to take the prosecution's plea offer -- a five-year sentence
-- last week. Price changed his mind and hired a new lawyer, veteran attorney
Tony Axam, who is planning to appeal the sentence.
"When I came to work Thursday, I had no idea this was going to
be a trial," said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, Baxter criticized
the defendant and his attorneys for not taking responsibility for the assault.
"Blame the lawyer, blame me -- I accept the responsibility,"
Axam said.
Price made a brief apology to the family before he was
sentenced. Under state law, he will have to serve at least nine years of his
sentence before being eligible for parole.
Copyright 2003 by WSBTV.com.